Tractor-mounted loader



Jan. 21,1958 E. L. MILLER TRACTOR-MOUNTED LOADER 2 Sheets-Sheet l FiledJune 15, 1954 722 'IZZLET 5/1226! L. Mi/fr United This-invention relates.to a tractor-mounted loader and moreparticularly to a loader that.inrelation .tosits size and weight can carry a load of maximum size andweight to a; maximum height andwhich is rugged, easily operated andreadily constructed from. a minimum number. ofiparts.

In an exemplary application of this invention, a loader c mprises .arm:means arranged for connection to a tractor for raising ,and loweringmovements, preferably. about, av pivotalaxis above the axis. of the reartractor wheels. A sweep. arranged to underlie and. supporta load, suchasa load of hay, is pivotallyconnected, to the arm means and push-oifmeans are mounted formovement over the. sweep for discharging. the load.therefrom.

fIn operation, the armtmeans may be lowered .to-.posi-, tion thesweepclose to the ground and the tractormay b e driven forwardlytoward a pileof material such as hay so that the sweep is in underlying supportingrelation thereto. The sweep may .then' be tilted upwardly .to, retain amaximum amount of material thereon and thereafter the arrnmeans may beelevated. The tractor may then be driven to a place where it isjdesiredto deposit the load on the sweep and after the arm means are elevated.to the required height, thepush-ofi means may be actuated to dischargethematerial therefrom.

Through the combination of the pivotal support of the sweep from the armmeans with the push-oil means on the sweep, a maximum .load,,may beretained on the sweep by tilting the same and the load can be carried toa maximum height relative to the size of the arm means since thepush-oil means can elevate the load to 'discharge the same from thesweep and'the load is not discharged downwardly as would be the'case ifthe pivotal connection of the sweep to the arm means were relied on fordischarging the load. Also, the pivotal movement of the sweep requiredto retain a maximum load thereon is limited and because of the push-offmeans, thesweep need not be pivoted through a widearc as would berequired if pivotal movement of the sweep were relied. on fordischarging the load therefrom.

According to an important feature of the invention, the same means areused to both retract the push-oil means and control pivotal tiltingmovement. :of the. sweep. In particular, actuating meansniay beconnected between the push-E means and the arm meansandstop: means maybe provided for limiting rearward or return movement'. ofthepush-otf'means. After the pushroff ,means retracted to a.;positio,nwhere-further movement thereof is' limited'by-the; stop means, furthermovement of the actuating means will tilt the sweep. Accordingly, itisnot necessary toprovide separate actuating meansrfor tilting thesweep, and retracting the push-ofi, means. At the same time, optimumcontrol is achieved because in all cases wherein itis desired to tiltthe sweep, .thepushoff meanswill be in a fully retracted position.

The actuating means. may take the form- 0f cablescor the like butpreferably :fluid actuated are-employed and most preferablydouble-actingfluid actuating ,means are employed which mayactuatethepush-ofi means 111 a Patent discharging direction as well as in aretracting direction. Hence the actuatingmeans performs three differentfunctions which might otherwise require three separate actuating means.For positive, control of the push-off means and the sweep, the fluidactuated means should be hydraulic and may, for example, comprise apiston and cylinder assembly.

The push-ofif means could be actuated'directly from the actuating means.For example, the push-ofi? .means might be connected to a piston movablein a cylinder connected to the arm means supporting the sweep from thetractor. However, a motion-multiplying means is preferably employedbetween the actuating means and pushofi means to limitthe requiredmovement of the actuating means. i

In particular, a pivotal arm maybe pivotally. connected to the push-.ofimeans and the actuating means may act at apoint muchcloser to thepivotal axis of the arm than'the axis connection of the arm to thepush-off means. Preferably, a pair of arms may be employed and'such maybe pivoted to"t he1upper. end of an upright frame structure. With thisarrangement, the arm or arms may eachpivotbetween a position extendingdownwardly and rearwardly from the upper end of the upright frame and aposition extending idownwardly and forwardly from such upper. end ofthe" frame and the lower end portion Oftheload-engagingsurface of thepush-off means is maintained at least-'as fa-r forward as the upperendportion Of "Sl1Ch;Slll faC6 as the push-off means is movedbetweenfiheretracted and discharged positions thereof.

' ln' accordance'with" a-specific feature of the invention, the-upright-frame-may bepivoted'at its lower end to the sweep" to allow' the upperend of the frame to be moved asfar forwardly as 'is necessary for therequired movement'of thvpiish-Offmeans. '-Means are provided --for'limiting such" forward'movement of the frame'relative tothe-arm-meanssupporting the sweep from the tractor -so that uponactuation of the actuating means in a discharging direction,theactuating means will act to move the push-oif-means forwardly afterthe-frameis moved forwardly to a predetermined position.Preferably,=spring biasing means may act between the arm'meanssupporting the sweep from the tractor =andthe upright frame' to urge theframe toits forward position. This serves to keep the push-olf-as-semblyin position regardless'of the angle of the sweep as," for example, whenpivotal movement'of the-'sweepis-limitedby engagement'of the sweep witha stack .of-hay.

*For" both urgingthe upright frame forwardly relative to the-armmeans'and limiting such-forwardwmovement, the upright'frame aha pointintermediate its lower and upper eridsmay have'means receiving'a barconnectedato the arm means that support the sweep from .ther'tractor.Such a' bar may have a pin or the like atitsouterend to limit:forwardmovement 0f the .upright frame and'may also have -aooiledcompression spring thereon'between theframe and the-arm meanstourge. the frame outwardly. The bar may be *pivotally: connected to the.arm means and by a-pin also'serving as a pivotal connectionforahydrauliccylinder used-to: actuate the assembly.

A feature: of the: loader is in the .configurationz;and-.actuation ofthe arm means. supporting 'ithe.= .sweepfrom: the tractor. Heretofore,.it hasbeen .the' practice tozcouple the sweep to the tractor throughapair of armsconnected to the sweep .and .pivotally COBHfiCtECl'IO the.tractorand actuate the arms through hydraulic rams coupled. to thearmsat or adjacent the connection of the arms'to the sweep and coupledto the tractor atpoints-b'elow the axis of pivotal connection of thearms to the tractor. This, of course, provides a maximum leverage forthehydraulic rams-and hencedecreases "the force to be applied by therams. However, such long rams areexpensive' to manufacture'and further,in order that the rams may have the required strength against bending intheir extended position, the cross-section thereof, must behgreater thandictated by the force to be applied thereby. In the loader of thisinvention, fluid-actuated rams are employed which act on the arm meansat a point intermediate the end thereof connected to the sweep and theaccess of pivotal connection of the arm means to the tractor. Thus therams can have a much shorter overall length and can have much greaterrigidity with greatly reduced cost. The force required to be exerted bythe rams is not increased in proportion to the decrease in length but isincreased by only a small percentage and the required force can bereadily obtained with the cross-section necessitated by rigidityrequirements- The arm means preferably has an outer end portionprojecting angularly downwardly with the sweep being pivotally connectedthereto at the end of such outer portion. The hydraulic ram means areconnected to the inner portion of the arm means at a point which isspaced a substantial distance above a line from the access of pivotalconnection of a sweep to the arm means and through the access of pivotalconnection of the arm means to the tractor. With this arrangement, theextended length of ram means required to achieve a given height of asweep is substantially reduced and it is possible to obtain greaterrigidity with reduced expense.

The fact thatthe outer end portion of the arm means slopes downwardly isalso an advantage in that the actuating means for the sweep and push-offassembly may be connected to the arm means at a point adjacent the inneror upper end of the downwardly projecting outer portion thereof, thispoint being opposite the optimum connection point of the actuating meansto the push-ofl" assembly. The fact that the outer end portion of thearm means slopes downwardly is also an advantage in that great rigiditymay be achieved merely through the use of struts connecting such outerend portion of the arm means to the inner end portion to provide atruss-like structure.

An object of this invention, accordingly, is to proasaopas A loaderconstructed according to the principles of this invention is adapted tobe mounted on the tractor 10 and may comprise a sweep 16 in the form ofa scoop pivotally connected to arm means 17 which may be pivotallyconnected to the tractor for raising and lowering movements. The armmeans 17 may have an outer downwardly projecting portion 18 and maypreferably comprise a pair of arms on opposite sides of the tractor eachhaving an outer downwardly projecting portion 19 and an inner portion20. Each arm may preferably be of tubular metal having a generallysquare cross-section. To rigidify the outer portions of the arms, aplate 7 7 23 receiving the terminal ends of the downwardly. projectingarm portions 19 with pins 23 extending through such plates and suchterminal ends to provide the pivotal connection between the scoop 16 andthe arm means 17. To control pivotal movement of the scoop 16, a pair ofplates 24 may project rearwardly therefrom to receive and to beconnected to a piston rod 25 through a pin 26. The piston rod 25 maycarry a piston movable in a cylinder 27 pivotal on a pin 28 extendingbetween upstanding plates 29 secured to the arm means 17. Fluid underpressure, preferably liquid, may be supplied through lines 30 to thecylinder 27 on opposite sides of the piston therein to control pivotalmovement of the scoop in either direction. To pivotally support the armmeans 17 from the tractor 10, the inner end of each inner arm portion 20may be journaled on pins 31 carried at the upper ends of upjectingplates 33 bolted to a plate 34 which is secured to vide an improvedloader which relative to its size can carry a load of maximum size anddischarge such load at a maximum height.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved loaderhaving a sweep tiltable to a limited ex tent and having push-01f meansthereon.

Another object .of this invention is to provide an improved loaderhaving a tiltable sweep with push-off means thereon and with a singleactuating means for both tilting the sweep and actuating the push-ofimeans.-

Still another object of this invention is to provide an improved loaderwhich is very strong, rugged and durable and yet. readily manufacturablefrom a minimum number of parts.

This invention contemplates other objects, features and advantages whichwill become more fully apparent from the following detailed descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate apreferred embodiment and in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of a tractorhaving mounted thereon a loader incorporating certain features of thepresent invention and having a sweep in the form of a scoop;

Figure 2-is a side elevational view illustrating axsweep assemblyconstructed according to the principles of this invention and mounted onthe loader of Figure 1 in place of the sweep illustrated in Figure 1;-and Figure. 3 is a cross-sectional view takensubstantially along linesI1IIII of Figure 2.

, Reference numeral 10 generally designates a tractor which may be ofconventional construction and may comprise -a frame 11 supported by afront wheel or wheels 12 and rear wheels 13 at opposite ends-of a rearaxial housing 14.

a plate 35. The plate 35 together with a plate 36 may be clamped bybolts on the rear axial housing 14. It

may be noted that the plate 33 may have a plurality of openings thereinso that the vertical position of the upright supports 32 may beadjusted.

To provide additional support for the upright support members 32, bars37 may extend between the upper end portions of the supports 32 andforward end portions of the tractor frame 11.

To control raising and lowering movements of the arm meanspl7,fluid-actuated means generally designated by reference numeral 38 may beprovided which may comprise a pair of cylinders 39 each having an endportion journaled on a bolt 40 between plates 41 on the underside ofeach inner arm portion 20 of the arm means between plates 44 extendingforwardly from the lower end portion of the upright supports 32. Boththe plates 41 andthe plates 44 may have a plurality of holes forreceiving the bolts 40 and 43 so as to permit adjustment of theconnections. By proper adjustment, the scoop 16 may be positioned at adesired levelrelative to ground level whenthe fluid-actuated means 38are in retracted positions.

To control operation of .the fluid-actuated means 38, fluid underpressure, preferably liquid, may be supplied to the cylinders 39 onopposite sides of the piston therein through lines 45.

The lines 30 connected to the cylinder 27 and the lines 45 connected tothe cylinders 39 may extend through the arm means 17 and may beconnected through lines 46 to a controller 47 supported in a positionconvenient for the tractor operator and connected to a pump through aline 48. The controller 47 may be of any desired construction adapted tosupply fluid under pressure select- S illustrated and the tractor may bedriven forwardly to drive the scoop into a pilejof material, such asmanure, to be carried. The scoop 16 may then be tilted upwardly toretain a maximum amount of the material by supplying fluid underpressure to an appropriate one of the lines 30. Thereafter the arm means17 maybe raised by supplying 'fluid under pressure to appropriate onesof the lines 45 and the tractor may be then driven to. a point where itis desired torunload the material. The scoop 16 may then betilteddownwardly by supplying fluid under pressure to an appropriate oneof the lines 30 to discharge the material therefrom.

Referring now to "Figure 2, reference numeral 49 generally designates asweep assembly which incorporates very important featuresof the presentinvention and which is mounted on the arm means.17 in place of the scoop16 illustrated in Figure 1. The sweep assembly 49 as illustrated isparticularly designed'for use in loading and stacking hay but it will beappreciated that the principles involved in the construction of, thesweep assembly 49 may be applied as well to structures for loading othermaterials.

The sweep 49 may comprise. a plurality of tines or teeth 50 arranged tounderlie and support a load of material such as bay. The teeth 50 maypreferablyabe of wood and may have tips 51 of steel or other strong,hard, durable material. .Tosupport the teeth 50, the rearwardend-portions thereof may be secured to the underside of'horizontal legsof a pair of spaced angle iron members 52and 53 extending transverse tothe teeth 50. The angle iron members 52 and 53 may be secured rigidlytogether by rods 54 adjacent the ends of the members 52 and"53 and byangle iron members 55 and 56 intermediate the rods 54, as shown inFigure 3.

To pivotally support the sweep 49 from the arm means 17, pairs of plates57 may project rearwardly from the rearward angle iron member 53 toreceive the terminal end portions of the downwardly projecting portions19 of the arms defining the arm means 17 and pins 58 may extend throughsuch plates and such terminal ends to thereby provide the pivotalconnection.

As will be described more in detail hereinafter, means are provided fortilting the sweep 49 upwardly to retain a maximum load thereon after thesweep has been driven into a pile of material to be carried. Accordingto an important feature of the invention, such tiltable movement of thesweep 49 is not relied on for discharging the material, as is the casewith the scoop 16 shown in Figure 1, but push-off means generallydesignated by reference numeral 59 are provided for moving forwardlyover the sweep to discharge the material therefrom, thus greatlyincreasing the height from which material may be discharged from thesweep. It will be appreciated that this is particularly advantageous ina hay-loading sweep such as illustrated in which the tines or teeth arerelatively long and in which the ends of the teeth may be elevated acomparatively great distance above the axis of pivotal connection of thesweep to the arm means.

The push-off means 59 may most preferably comprise a plurality ofhorizontal vertically spaced bars 60 secured to a plurality of verticalhorizontally spaced bars 61. For economy of construction, the bars 60and 61 may be of wood bolted together.

For actuation of the push-off means 59, a pair of bars 62 and 63 mayproject rearwardly, upwardly and slightly inwardly from the lower end ofthe push-otf means 59 with brace rods 64 and 65 projecting rearwardlyand downwardly from upper portions of the pushoff means 59 tointermediate points of the bars 62 and 63. The rearward ends of the bars62 and 63 may be received by the bi-furcated ends of a pair of arms 66and 67 with pins 68 and 69 extending through such bi-furcated ends ofthe arms 66 and 67 and through the rearward ends of the bars 62 and 63,to provide a pivotal connection between the arms 66 and 67 and thepush-off means-59.

'The.arms'66 and 67 maybe secured tothe ends of-a horizontal shaft 70which may be-journaledfor rotation infour axially' spaced alignedsleeves 71, 72,73and 74. The 'sleeves"71 7,4 may bejdisposed at thenpper'end of an upright frame structure generally designated byreference numeral'75 which may comprise-a pair of rods 76 and77securedto the sleeves-71 and 74' andextending downwardly to 'bi-furcatedlower end 'portions receiving and pinned to the vertical legs of theangle iron members 55 and56. The upright franc structure 75 may alsoinclude'bars'78 and79 extending upwardly and inwardly from lowerendportions of the'bars76 and 77 to the sleeves, 72 and 73, respectively.

It will be apparent that with rotation of' the shaft 70 aboutits axis,the'arms' 66 'and'67 may be moved from positions in'which theyextend'rearwardly and downwardly from the axis of the shaft 70,'asillustrated in full lines in Figure 2, to positions in which they extendforwardly and downwardly from the axis of the shaft 70, as illustratedin dotted lines in Figure'Z, to move the pushoff means 59 forwardly overthe sweep 49, from a position as illustrated in full lines inFigure 2 toa position as illustrated in dotted lines therein, to discharge hay fromthe sweep'49.

To effect this rotation of the shaft 76, a pair of plates 80 and 81 maybe secured thereto intermediate the sleeves 72 and 73 to receive the endof the'piston rod 25 with a pin 82 extending through suchplates and suchend, to provide a pivotal connection. Fluid under pressure may then beadmitted through the lines 30 to the cylinder 27 to control movement ofthe push-off means 59.

According to an important feature of the invention, the actuating meansfor the push-off means 59 may also serve to control tilting movement ofthe sweep 49. For this purpose, the lower end of the push-off means 59in its retracted position may abut the vertical leg of the angle ironmember 52 and rearward tilting movement of the upright frame 75 may belimited by blocks 83 secured to the rear sides of the bars 76 and 77 inposition to engage the upper edges of the vertical legs of the agle ironmembers 55 and 56 when the upright frame 75 is at a positionapproximately normal to the teeth 50 of the sweep 49.

With this arrangement, after the push-01f means 59 have been fullyretracted, further actuation of the piston rod 25 in a rearwarddirection will serve to tilt the sweep 49 upwardly about the axis of thepins 58. Such a position is illustrated in broken lines in Figure 2.

As previously indicated, the upright frame 75 may have its lower endpivotally secured to the sweep 49, which allows full floatation of thesweep head regardless of ground conditions. It is essential, however,that downward tilting movement of the sweep 49 be limited and for thispurpose, a bar 84 is provided. The rearward end of this bar 84 mayreceive the same pin 28 that journals the cylinder 27, so as to providea pivotal connection between the bar 84 and the arm means 17. Theforward end of the bar 84 may be of reduced diameter to define anintermediate shoulder on the bar 84 and this forward end may ride in asleeve 85 pivotally supported between the legs of an inverted U-shapedbracket 86 carried by a bar 87 secured between the rods 78 and 79 of theupright frame structure 75. A pin 88 in the forward terminal end of thebar 84 may engage the sleeve 85 to limit forward movement of the uprightframe 75 relative to the arm means 17 and thus limit downward tiltingmovement of the sweep 49.

It will be appreciated that the sweep 49 may be tilted upwardly with thesleeve 85 riding rearwardly on the bar 84. Such upward tilting movementof the sweep 49 may also be accomplished without the sleeve 85 ridingrearwardly on the bar 84 because of the pivotal connection between theupright frame 75 to the sweep 49. It is desirable that when the push-01fmeans 59 is to be actuated, the upright frame 75 should be in a forwardposition with the sleeve 75 engaged with the pin 88 regardless ofthe'angle of the sweep. For this purpose, a coiled compression spring 89may be disposed on the reduced diameter forward end portion of the bar84 between the shoulder thereon and the sleeve 85,,the spring 89 thusurging the frames 75 to a forward position.

To provide for maximum loading capacity of the sweep 49, a pair of bars90 may be secured along the sides of the sweep 49 by upright supports 91and 92, such bars 90 serving to limit lateral movement of the hay orother material off of the sweep 49.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effectedwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of thepresent invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a loader adapted for mounting on a tractor or the like, arm meansarranged for connection to the tractor for raising and loweringmovements, a sweep pivotally connected to said arm means, an uprightframe having a lower end portion pivoted to said sweep, an arm pivotedto the upper end of said frame, push-off means connected to said arm,and actuating means between said arm and said arm means for bothretracting said push-off means and controlling pivotal movement of saidsweep.

2. In a loader adapted for mounting on a tractor or the like, arm meansarranged for connection to the tractor for raising and loweringmovements, a sweep pivotally connected to said arm means, an uprightframe having a lower end portion pivoted to said sweep, an arm pivotedto the upper'end of said frame, to said arm, actuatingmeans between saidarmand said arm means for. both retracting said push-off means .and

controlling pivotal movement of said sweep, means limiting rearwardmovement of said frame relative to said sweep, and means limitingforward movement of said' frame relative to said arm means. 7

3. In a loader adapted for mounting on a tractor or the like, arm meansarranged for connection to the tractor for raising and loweringmovements, a sweep pivotally connected to said arm means, an uprightframe having a lower end portion pivoted to said sweep, an arm pivotedto the upper ,end of said frame, push-01f means connected to said arm,actuating means betweensaid arm and said arm means for both retractingsaid push-ofi means and controlling pivotal movement of said sweep,means limiting rearward movement of 'said frame relative to said sweep,means limiting forward movement of said frame relative to said armmeans, and means biasing said frame forwardly relative to said armmeans.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSpush-off means connected

